Dean Johnson Comments for KPCC on L.A. County Plan to Fund Immigrant Legal Services

Dean Kevin R. Johnson commented for Southern California public radio station KPCC on a Los Angeles County proposal to earmark $1 million to provide legal services for undocumented immigrants.  The move comes as county officials prepare to oppose president-elect Donald Trump’s plans to deport millions of undocumented immigrants.

Dean Johnson said that the government is not required to provide representation for defendants in civil immigration proceedings, and as a result, "many undocumented immigrants, as well as many legal immigrants, appear in removal proceedings without counsel," Johnson said.

If Los Angeles County makes $1 million available for services, it could affect thousands of cases, Dean Johnson said. "I can’t say it's going to cure the problem, but it's certainly going to help," he said.

Kevin R. Johnson is Dean and Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law and Chicana/o studies at UC Davis School of Law. He is an internationally recognized scholar in the fields of immigration law and policy, refugee law, and civil rights.